Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
List’ning ev’ry moment to the Spirit’s call,
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God. (Russell Carter, 1886)

One of the ministry teams here at Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church is working on a new pictorial directory for our 150th anniversary. Once in a while, looking for a particular image, they ask me to shoot a person or baptism or class or event.

This week I grabbed photographs at the monthly elders’ meeting, plus the Tuesday men’s and the Wednesday women’s Bible study classes. Seeing these good folk together reminded me of what a strong foundation we have at the core of this church, and how many people (and these are just a few) see themselves as fully engaged disciples rather than merely churchgoers on Sunday.

Standing on the Promises:

These are some of the wonderful people who, to use one of my favorite couplets, don’t just sit on the premises they actually stand on the promises! It turns out to be a really good posture to have, especially if we are going to be relevant as a church and move forward from this moment with the kind of vision that empowers us.

All this makes me remember a comical but pointed parody of “Onward Christian Solders” my dad once used at a deacons meeting. I’ll share that another time, but the memory prompted me to write this parody of “Standing on the Promises”.

First, the real verse – then my parody:

So I am very happy to be associated with this faithful and beautiful group of saints who stand on God’s promises with such passion and conviction. So much so that Tarboro as a town is sometimes hard to separate from Howard Memorial the church.

I love the opening line to verse four (the original): “Standing on the promises I cannot fall.” But I’m going to paraphrase even that, to move it away from the individual experience into community – which turns out to be much better theology: “Standing on God’s promises we cannot fall.”

In the sure knowledge that God keeps God’s promises – DEREK